Add Drivers to XP Images (with Sysprep.inf)

Adding drivers to Sysprep before capturing your Windows image for later deployment is what you want to do to have Windows installs automatically install drivers after deploying an image, so you don’t have to manually do it. This can be a huge time saver with your Windows installs.

Some techs like to use “Driver Packs” (often with 3rd party programs to mass install them) but personally have never used these, and don’t we all like getting the latest driver direct from the OEM?  These methods won’t be covered here, however I have found a guide on integrating Driver Packs on msfn.org here.

The traditional method of integrating drivers into a Sysprep prepared image is outlined in Microsoft KB 314479 under the Sysprep section.

The meat of the idea is that after you install Windows, and before running Sysprep:

• Create a directory on the C: drive named whatever, e.g. C:\Support\Drivers
  • It is IMPORTANT that you DO NOT put your drivers folder inside the Sysprep folder, else it will fail to recognize them!
• Inside the directory, extract whatever drivers you wish to integrate into subdirectories, e.g. C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs
  • The drivers MUST be extracted, no .zip files!  e.g.
    • C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.inf
    • C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.cat
    • C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.sys
    • etc. etc.
• Edit your Sysprep.inf file and under the [Unattended] section, you want to add these lines: (not all of which relate, but you want these lines anyway)
  • OemSkipEula=Yes
  • DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
  • UpdateInstalledDrivers=Yes
  • OEMPnPDriversPath=\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs;\Support\Drivers\BroadcomNICs
    • There are two driver paths above, but add as many paths as necessary for each driver you wish to include.
    • Separate each new driver path with a semi-colon, which is this thing ” ; “ and NOT this thing ” : “
    • There is NO need to use C: before the path, as the %systemdrive% variable is added automatically by Sysprep.
    • If your OEMPnPDriversPath will be longer than 4096 characters, this will not work.  I have two suggestions:
      • First you could shorten the length of your path names!
        • So instead of:  “C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs”
        • You could try:  “C:\Drvr\Rtk” and “C:\Drvr\Bdcm” and so on…
      • Alternately, instead of creating this line in the Sysprep.inf file:
        • Use this 3rd party utility from Vernalex.com to add your driver paths.
        • You MUST remove this line from Sysprep.inf if you already created it before using the utility linked above!

Don’t have a Sysprep.inf file yet?  You can view or download a copy of my personalized Sysprep.inf (only for XP), which you should rename to remove the .txt extension if you download it to use as a template.

Network Boot Guide

• Install WDS (Windows Deployment Services)
  • Add Vista/7 Images to WDS
  • Add Drivers to boot.wim (for Vista/7 Images)
  • Add Drivers to XP Images (with Sysprep.inf)    <- You are here!
  • Add XP or Modified Vista/7 Images to WDS
• Install Syslinux
  • Add Boot Images to Syslinux on WDS
• Troubleshooting Issues

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